So, I see a lot of people celebrating Darwin on Facebook, but I have to ask: how many of these people have actually read On the Origin of Species? My guess, none of them. It’s cool that you appreciate his work, we all do, but unfounded celebration of his work is pretentious and just social media self appraisal. His work exists to be studied and tested, not for self glorification in a social media context. Without reading his magnum opus, how can you truly praise him in a public manner?

Do these folks truly understand the motivation behind his work? A common misconception I observe are people that think he was the father of evolutionary thought – are you one of these people? If you are, go back to school and read his book.

Taro, out!

P.S. I really want to post this on Facebook to prove a point, but there are too many fragile graduate students out there that can’t handle the criticism, so I’ll keep my mouth shut. But, seriously, don’t celebrate what you don’t understand. You’re making people like me, that have actually read his works, look like a chump. You’re scientists: I hope you don’t cite in your pubs, works that you haven’t actually read.